His No. 4 rushing team in the nation used a rollout pass on the first play of Wednesday night's MAC West showdown.

After gaining 6 yards, Northern Illinois gained 10 yards on a reverse to Tommylee Lewis on its second play. Followed by a quick pass to the left for 18 yards on the third play against Ball State (9-2, 6-1).

With Cameron Stingily (turf toe) playing sparingly, NIU was down to its fourth- and fifth-string running backs for most of the game. Ball State had more of a power rushing game than NIU. But the Huskies still won 48-27, scoring three TDs in the last six minutes behind one of Jordan Lynch's most spectacular games.

"We were taking what they were giving us," Carey said. "You could see they weren't going to let (Jordan) run."

So Lynch passed. Spectacularly well. Lynch completed 26 of 32 throws for 345 yards and two TDs to Da'Ron Brown (209 yards). Lynch also ran 20 times for 123 yards and two TDs.

"If Jordan isn't in the conversation for the Heisman, I don't know what people are watching," Carey said. "They are obviously asleep."

Lynch's two most Heisman-like plays avoided sacks and converted a third-and-10 and a third-and-11. The second one led to a 25-yard pass that kept the game-winning 94-yard drive alive. The other one came when he broke three or four tackles and plowed ahead to get the first down by an inch or so.

Lynch made it sound like no big deal.

"They were trying to strip the ball on that play and swing me around. They weren't trying to wrap me up," Lynch said.

Lynch's greatness will leave the lasting impression to most of the ESPN2 audience, but just as key was NIU's adaptability. If the Huskies (10-0, 6-0) reach a BCS bowl for the second successive year, it will be because they can beat you many ways. When they can't run over you, they'll run around you. They can beat you with short, quick passes, like the 58-yard catch-and-run by Brown in the first half, or with deep bombs, like the 54-yarder and 36-yard TD Brown caught in the second half.

And the defense can find a way to shine even when its getting run over and giving up 494 total yards. Jahwan Edwards ran for 156 yards, but George Rainey stopped him on third down from the 1 and the Huskies swarmed him for a fourth-and-1 stop at midfield in the final three minutes of a 7-point game.

"We couldn't get a yard when we needed to," Ball State coach Pete Lembo said.

"As a defense, we did enough to win," Rainey said. "At the end of the day, that's the most important thing."

Page 2 of 2 - That 25-yard scrambling pass on third-and-11 on the game-winning drive was a diving catch by little-used Matt Williams. That catch summed up these Huskies as much as Lynch's greatness.

"With our offense, you never know who is going to make the play," Brown said. "You have to account for everybody on our offense. If you leave somebody uncovered, that will be the person who makes the big play."